Vietnam War Wiki:User conduct guideline
Editing * Be bold: If you find something that can be improved, improve it and encourage others to do the same. * Do not vandalize: Simply put, do not mess pages up on purpose. Blanking articles or sections, replacing content with nonsense or intentionally adding inaccurate information to articles is considered vandalism. * Use edit summaries: Edit summaries are there to explain your changes - use them as often as possible. It helps with getting everybody on the same page and prevents conflicts with other editors. * Do not plagiarize: Do not copy the content of other sites and authors and try to pass it off as your own. If a site allows use of its content, state your source. Interacting with other editors * Be polite: It's not only important what you say but also how you say it. Be civil when talking to other people and treat them with respect. This site is built on cooperation. * Assume good faith: Do your best to assume that other editors are trying to help unless you have evidence to the contrary. Accidents happen, and not everybody has a lot of experience with editing a wiki. * Do not start edit wars: Be ready to discuss your changes with others. If you disagree with another editor, discuss the issue either on user or article talk pages. Repeatedly reverting each other's changes ("edit warring") is bound to escalate the conflict instead of solving it. If you cannot reach a consensus, ask another user to mediate. In general, if someone reverts an edit you made, you should not re-add it without reaching a consensus on the article's talk page. * These rules apply to chat as well. Talk and forum pages * Sign comments: You should add four tildes (~~~~) to the end of all of your comments on talk and forum pages, otherwise other people will not know it was you who made the edit. Do not get carried away and do the same thing in articles though, only on talk pages and forums. * Do not edit other people's comments: Editing or removing other peoples' remarks in the forum, on discussion pages, or their personal user page is considered bad behavior. Post your own thoughts on the talk pages, and leave others to their own. * Do not misuse talk pages: Talk pages are for the discussion of their respective articles and not for general chatter. Use the forum for the latter. * Avoid using obtrusive signatures: Custom signatures which are obtrusive, annoying or unnecessarily large should be avoided as they detract from the purpose of talk and forum pages. A signature should not affect surrounding text to a great extent. Only one image is allowed per signature, and it must be no larger than 40 pixels in width and 20 pixels in height. Using the "thumb" or "frame" options is forbidden. Blog comments * Don't spam: Comments that are considered spam will be deleted by the staff. Examples of spam include one word posts, meaningless statements such as "Fallout x'' rocks/sucks" or random, nonsensical comments. * '''Don't flame': Comments intended to provoke other users (flamebait) or insulting them outright (flaming) will be deleted by the staff and may be grounds for blocking. * Don't be rude: Excessive rudeness to other posters (whether they are anonymous or not) is not welcome. Such comments will be deleted and may be grounds for blocking. * Be readable: If your message can't be understood, it will be considered spam. Leetspeek does constitute unreadability. User pages * Do not edit others' user pages: Pages in the "User" namespace are generally considered to be the property of the user they belong to. You can put whatever you like on your user pages (as long as you do not violate common rules of decency or insult other users) and nobody else is allowed to edit without your permission. In turn, you may not edit other users' user pages without their permission either. * Feel free to leave messages on user talk pages: User talk pages are exempt from the rule above as it is their purpose to be edited by others. The general guidelines for talk pages above apply, with the exemption that you are allowed to clear out your talk page from time to time. See also * Vietnam War Wiki:Administration policy